CITYWATCH Holding pattern persists for Heritage Harbor BY BRIAN C. JONES

The ambitious Heritage Harbor Museum project remains largely stalled nearly a half-year after trustees drastically cut back its staff, including its chief executive officer, to conserve money and possibly chart a new course. However, in one forward move, the museum and the City of Providence have agreed to hire a consultant that will review Heritage Harbor’s request for a $9 million federal loan that the city would back.

The Massachusetts firm, Consult Econ Inc., is being paid with a $10,000 grant from the museum. Museum officials say the consultant will conduct a two-stage review: looking over the museum’s current business plans, and then taking a second look, after the museum revises its plans in response to the consultant’s initial findings. If this process persuades the city to okay the loan, an important piece of financing could fall into place for Heritage Harbor.

In turn, a city-backed loan might help persuade the state to release $5 million in bonds approved by voters in November 2002. The money is being held, pending an assessment that the overall project is viable.

Overall, the Providence waterfront project remains largely where it was last July, when its trustees laid off seven of 18 staff members, including executive director R. Mark Davis, while officials looked at " restructuring " the project. In the works for about two decades, the museum is supposed to explain Rhode Island’s key role in the Industrial Revolution, and tell the stories of the waves of immigrants and ethnic groups that have shaped the state’s history.

Margaret Dooley, acting executive director, recently told the Phoenix that two efforts are underway to retool the museum project. One is a search for a " co-developer " that might join Heritage Harbor in developing its mammoth headquarters, a former electrical generating station donated to the project by the Narragansett Electric Company.

Earlier this year, Walter Stone, a lawyer who is Heritage Harbor’s vice president, said a possibility might be using only half the space in the museum building, with the rest going for parking or some other revenue-generating activity. Dooley says the museum is developing a " checklist " of possible co-development ideas, but that it remains incomplete. The museum is talking with such agencies as the state Economic Development Corporation, she says.

Meanwhile, the board is considering changing its own structure. The current board has 25 members, including one representative each from 19 member organizations, such as the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, the American Diner Museum, and the Providence Jewelry Museum. That structure may be too cumbersome for effective decision-making, Dooley says, so the board is considering hiring a " facilitator " who could discuss the leadership structure. Dooley said the museum hopes to conclude that process by the end of February.

Dooley is optimistic about the project. " We’ve been out talking to lots and lots of people, " she says. " Clearly, there is a lot of good will for Heritage Harbor, " she says. " It is a community museum that needs to be built by the community. "

The museum has attracted top-of-the-line corporate support, from Verizon, Fleet Bank, Textron, the Providence Journal, and its parent company, the Belo Corporation. But critics have complained that past plans depended too much on the museum’s ability to sell tickets to at least 300,000 visitors a year — a figure that established tourist attractions, such as the Newport mansions, have taken years to reach.